NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP)
A shepherd and two mineworkers froze to death during a rare
cold snap in Mauritania's usually scorching Sahara Desert, local
officials and residents said Sunday.
In the past week, temperatures have plummeted as low as -5 Celsius
(23 Fahrenheit) in parts of this arid West African country of
desert nomads, herdsmen and miners.
The shepherd died while tending his camels overnight near the
northwestern city of Zouerat, residents and officials said.
The other two victims, employees at a mountaintop iron ore mine
in the same region, froze while walking to work. The three died
over the past few days, though the exact dates were unclear.
Mauritanians were unprepared for the cold weather in a country
where the climate usually fluctuates between lows of 15 Celsius
(59 Fahrenheit) in winter months to dangerously hot summer temperatures
of 50 Celsius (122 Fahrenheit).